Maumalo excited for first hit-out of 2022

Fresh off his appointment as a member of Wests Tigers’ leadership group in 2022, Ken Maumalo has outlined his thoughts on Wests Tigers’ first trial performance, his return to the field this week, and his standout performer from a tough pre-season.

While Maumalo didn’t play in Wests Tigers’ first trial match last Friday against Manly, he watched on at Leichhardt Oval with keen interest. 

“Obviously it was really rusty but I thought it was a great first-half hit-out to get some miles in the legs,” Maumalo said.

“I think there were a lot of good things there in the first half in terms of defence and what we wanted to do.”

The international winger had his first pre-season with Wests Tigers leading into this year and has been extremely excited to run out with one new recruit in particular.

“There’s been a lot of young boys from Jersey Flegg that have had really strong pre-seasons but the person that’s really impressed me has been Oliver Gildart,” he explained.

“He’s an international player and he’s really added that X-factor that we’ve needed on the edge.

“It’s really exciting for the club to have someone of his calibre and I think we can really exploit some teams’ weaknesses using him out there.”

Wests Tigers will play their second and final trial match against the Roosters on Friday night with Maumalo set to have his first run of the season. 

“I’ll be back against the Roosters, it’ll be my first hit-out of the year,” Maumalo stated.

“I’m really hoping for a good one leading into Round 1 in a couple of weeks."

Maumalo, along with the other members of the club’s player-appointed leadership group, will share captaincy duties throughout the 2022 NRL season.